Sorry that I couldn't get into the conversation earlier, but you know.... the Holidays and all....
I can honestly say (again), that you amaze me as a whole around here. Collectively you make comments like:
and
and then you have the gall to complain when some young Sailor fails to salute....
Make no mistake... that Sailor is wrong, and if you are a good leader you will correct the deficiency. However, a good leader will also give the Sailor the respect that he/she deserves as well....
The next time you do get a salute(or don't), remember that your rank entitles you to a salute. Then ask yourself, "are they saluting me... or my rank?" Let me tell you... from an E's perspective, they aren't the same.
Then again.... maybe it doesn't matter to you.
Chief, you need to remember one thing. This
is a website devoted to
officer programs,
officer issues, and
officer training. It's not AOL where we're one big happy family. Yes, we welcome those who are not part of the group to comment, participate, and learn; but we're not all each other's peers nor are all members of the Navy our peers. The points have been made clearly that we have a responsibility to 1. have our own act together, 2. be willing to teach rather than demand, and 3. understand that it's a two-way street. Yes, there will be tools in all communities and in all ranks; but at the end of the day, every recruit regardless of RTC/MCRD/boot camp
du jour knows what is expected and required. No service teaches "only if they're in your branch of service" or "only if they're paygrade O-x or higher." Any issues within
our own officer ranks are
our own issues/customs, and we'll deal with them accordingly. To think that absence from said basic training location relieves our troops of their obligations vis-a-vis officer/enlisted relationships or that they "simply forget" because they've been out of the structured boot camp environment is naive at best, utterly ridiculous at worst.
As for the reasons to/not to enlist, I think it's completely safe and no huge leap to say that those comments regarding "no good reason" focus on the premise of "if you intend to fly as a pilot/NFO in a naval service (N/MC/CG), then your odds of doing so are significantly better if you don't enlist" and are based on the collective experiences on which most of the priors here are fully qualified to comment. In particular, for those of us who flew before, none are denigrating the experience - in fact, I'd argue we all agree it makes us better at what we do now. That said, we've got different jobs now; and all things being equal, we'd have chosen different paths that would have put us into our current jobs much sooner than we got here. I can tell you there's at least two of us who fit that bill. This isn't to say that those jobs aren't just as noble or necessary, because they are. However, you know just as well as the next guy that just because everyone isn't qualified to be an AW, there's no good reason to join the Navy if your intention is to fly. Remember, this is a forum dedicated to those who are/desire to be/etc. pilots and NFOs (with other officer warfare communities included to a limited extent). Comments that there's no good reason to enlist parallel those that would say "there's no good reason to join the Navy as an undesignated airman if your intention is to fly as an AW." That's a 100% safe, accurate, and absolutely fair analogy.
This isn't the former, now-defunct Hangar or the FAWA page. It's aimed at officers, for officers, by officers. These are our opinions. We're not here to hold hands. Again, I think it's fair to say we welcome all opinions and perspectives, as there's no better way to better ourselves and do justice to our folks because we have something to learn from all. Just don't think that we're one big slick-sleeve, blank-collar fraternity. This ain't the Aviation Week enthusiasts society page.
